[SNIP]
> Most people would never have tried to kill Nick in
the first place,
> and the failed attempt would have turned most of the
rest off any more
> tries. Still, Frank and Cora take another shot and do
kill Nick.
> They get away with that, but end up getting what they
deserve another
> way. I don't think they would have got into as much
trouble if the
> first attempt had worked.
>
> So, did opportunity come twice for them, or does only
one of the
> attempts count? Was the second attempt too much;
would they have been
> undetected if the first attempt worked?
_TPART_ is like classical Greek tragedy---the wheel grinds
inevitably
on: Frank and Cora's lives are spun, measured and cut by the
fates.
They are doomed from the start, the die is already cast---all
that stuff
about harmatia [fatal flaw] and nemesis, etc. is here.
It's a bit like Macbeth (to jump a bit, chronologically, but
it's still
tragedy)--Macbeth is doomed and, because he violates whatever
the
protocol is called [can't remember the term] by killing
Duncan who is a
guest, well, we just know Macbeth is for it. He's unrepentant
and
unregenerative, unlike that other Shakespearan king, Lear
(Lear gets it,
but he's all regenerative at the end--the moral here being
'don't ask a
silly question').
Anyway, back to Frank and Cora--yes, it is *as if* they can
*almost* get
away with it--why, perhaps they won't even kill old Nick
after all ...
but they *do* ... and that is why it's a tragedy---they
*nearly* get
away with it ... but they don't. That's anenke
(necessity).
Oo-er ... I can feel an exam question forming:
Frank is cast as tragic hero in James M. Cain's novel
_The Postman Always Rings Twice_. Discuss.
Ahhh ... that's better :-)
ED
-- +-----------------------------------------------+ | <http://www.ejmd.mcmail.com> | | |
# # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.